


Calculated Risks

by Artemis1000



Category: Solo: A Star Wars Story (2018), Star Wars - All Media Types
Genre: Arranged Marriage - Arranged as a Means of Keeping Reluctant Ally Under Control, Complicated Relationships, Crimson Dawn (Star Wars), F/F, Love/Hate, Marriage - Married to Crime Lord or Mobster, Marriage of Convenience, Marriage of Convenience - Volunteering to Marry Condemned Criminal to Save Them from Punishment, New Republic Era (Star Wars)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-03
Updated: 2021-02-03
Packaged: 2021-03-15 17:21:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,161
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29067954
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Artemis1000/pseuds/Artemis1000
Summary: Enfys Nest knows she is a fool to take this risk. If she ends up killed on her wedding night, she will have nobody but herself to blame. They are no lovers, they are just enemies who sometimes like to fight by fucking.But she is still going to do her best to convince Qi'ra that marrying her to cement an alliance between Crimson Dawn and the New Republic is the best future for both of them. (That Qi'ra looks hot when she is handcuffed and spiteful about it is only a secondary perk, promise.)
Relationships: Enfys Nest/Qi'ra
Comments: 4
Kudos: 7
Collections: Shotgun Wedding Flash Exchange





	Calculated Risks

**Author's Note:**

  * For [rosecake](https://archiveofourown.org/users/rosecake/gifts).



In the lavish office slash audience room that sported only a few, neglectable blaster burns on the walls, Qi’ra placed herself on a thankfully blaster burn-free settee across from Enfys, her eyes sharp and suspicious. Her wrists were cuffed, her hair down and unadorned, and apparently, someone had thought to bring her prison clothes as if she were being held in a proper New Republic jail and not on her own flagship, now under the control of said New Republic.

Even in prison garb, she draped herself on the settee like a lady holding court, long legs elegantly folded, head held high like the underworld queen holding court she had been until last week.

She made it work for her, Enfys couldn’t deny that she would have been cowed if she were a lesser woman. But she was no lesser woman, she wasn’t one to be cowed by anyone no matter how fearsome or impressive, and all she felt at Qi’ra’s display of defiance was a thrill of desire, her thoughts unbidden going back to the last time she had met her. It hadn’t been in battle then, at least not in any conventional kind of battle though they were just as merciless with another. There had been far fewer clothes involved in this battle, for one.

“Now tell me,” Qi’ra demanded, “What are you hoping to gain from this game?”

Enfys lounged more comfortable and placed her boots on the table, if only to make Qi’ra twitch in annoyance. If it had been Enfys’s decision, she wouldn’t have kept her imprisoned on the ship she knew all too well but it hadn’t been her decision, so all she could do was make sure her presence here would be as infuriating as possible for Qi’ra while she was in no position to do anything about it.

“Saving your sorry, ungrateful neck?”

Qi’ra’s eyes narrowed at her. For a moment she looked as if she was working herself up to say something particularly scathing but then she pointed her chin towards the liquor cabinet. “You will find a bottle of Corellian whiskey over there. I’m going to need it if you expect me to entertain your proposal.”

“You’re going to need it more if you don’t, considering the other choice is being put on trial and executed for your crimes,” Enfys sniped mercilessly but she got them a drink anyway. Well. She fetched the bottle. If Qi’ra wanted a drink so badly, she could handle drinking from the bottle like the rest of them.

Qi’ra accepted the bottle with her chained hands. She caught Enfys’s gaze and held it as she tilted her head back and drank, challenge sparking bright in her eyes.

Enfys smiled, all teeth and very little kindness. She let her eyes drop to the elegant arch of Qi’ra’s throat. She was beautiful, even in prison garb, devoid of all her fineries and jewels and layers of perfectly applied make-up that all aimed to make her look like a queen too distant to ever be desired from anything but afar. Rawer. Realer. Somehow more alluring still in Enfys’s eyes for all she was trapped. She had always liked Qi’ra best when she was trapped and thus at her most ferocious.

“If you believe marriage will tame me,” she said, sounding somewhere between benevolently amused and disdainfully scornful, “You will be disappointed.”

Enfys snatched the bottle from her hands and brought it to her own lips. She took a deep gulp, savoring the burn of the ridiculously expensive whiskey. “I would have to be stupid to think I can tame you.”

“Why then?” she demanded, her voice sharp and outright hostile now. She looked very much like she would be shooting Enfys if only she held a blaster.

Enfys’s goosebumps intensified and she shivered, her eyes lingering on the snarl on Qi’ra’s perfect lips. She was a fool. She knew she was a fool; everyone had told her so. They weren’t lovers. They weren’t in love. They weren’t much of anything other than mortal enemies who sometimes fought their battles by fucking. And yet here she was, making a fool of herself. If she ended up with a blade in her heart on her wedding night, she would have nobody but herself to blame.

“Because you’re going to bring me Crimson Dawn,” Enfys said bluntly and returned to her seat still holding the bottle.

Qi’ra, to her credit, didn’t even bat an eyelash. She looked utterly unsurprised. Enfys would have been disappointed if it weren’t so, she had always admired Qi’ra’s cunning. “I will not,” she declared, promptly making Enfys doubt her own judgment.

“Then you’re a fool. You would rather die? You would still rule Crimson Dawn, you would just be working with the New Republic. You are of more use to us as an ally destabilizing our enemies than as a prisoner, but the politicians need something to make this agreement palatable.” She shrugged. “That’s where I come in.”

“A war hero and a crime lord, star-crossed lovers,” Qi’ra mused aloud. The proud, defiant tension in her body relaxed and the sharpness in her smile softened just the slightest bit to show genuine amusement. “How romantic.”

Enfys’s smile matched hers. “Isn’t it? People will love it…” She let the smile drop, a frown taking its place as she looked down at her hands. “And my people and I, we aren’t suited to peace and war veteran fundraiser parties. We would rather be out there, fighting and preventing the Empire from ever growing strong again. We can be useful to another.”

Qi’ra didn’t reply right away, which Enfys decided to take as a good sign. As a gesture of goodwill and future married bliss, she even handed over the whiskey.

She left her to her thoughts, content to wait. There had been a lot of waiting during the war, she knew it well. There was a time for brashness and patience – and Qi’ra, unlike other mobsters, had always made her moves carefully.

She watched Qi’ra take another drink, savoring it this time as if it were her last. Then she lowered the bottle slowly, deliberately, and placed it on the table between them.

“I will need my crew released and the command codes of my ship transferred back to me,” she said firmly, “but first of all, I need these cuffs off. I’m not going to say my vows handcuffed.”

Enfys’s heart thudded painfully in her chest. Her mouth felt dry as she rose to her feet and walked towards her bride. She had all but two steps of distance to cross, but it still felt like stepping onto a completely different world.

She was a fool to trust her. Everyone had said so. But if fools rushed in… Well, swoop attacks had always worked best for Enfys.

As the cuffs opened with a hiss, Qi’ra caught her eyes. “One more thing: Don’t disappoint me on the wedding night.”


End file.
